MOUNT VERNON – Residential electric customers using Mount Vernon’s utility aggregation program might save about $40 more per month compared to what AEP will charge its customers after a June 1 rate hike.
Buckeye Energy, the city’s utility broker, negotiated a 4½-year fixed rate of 4.69 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) for electricity in mid-2021 with Energy Harbor, according to a press release from the city. This rate continues through the end of 2025.
AEP has been charging 7.49 cents/kWh. But that rate is set to increase by 30% at the start of next month to 11.84 cents/kWh. As a result, the city said AEP’s average residential user would pay about $40 more per month compared to this month’s bill.
“This savings is real. It could amount to several hundred, even thousands of dollars saved for a typical resident over the life of our current electricity contract,” Mayor Matt Starr said. “And signing up literally couldn’t be easier – residents are automatically enrolled unless they choose not to be.”
The city said 3,825 customers participate in the electric aggregation program.
AEP said its prices are rising because of events like the war in Ukraine and “economic uncertainty.” By law, it must pass this cost on directly to customers.
The city’s utility aggregation program is an opt-out process, meaning residents are automatically enrolled unless they actively opt out by contacting the supplier.
AEP filed its Electric Security Plan with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to raise rates beginning in June 2024 to improve the utility’s infrastructure in the wake of last June’s windstorm, which cut power to 606,000 AEP customers across Ohio for as long as a week, including in Mount Vernon. However, that would be a smaller increase at 2% (or $4 per month) for each of the next six years or 12% overall.
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